The Iron Age Round-House

Later Prehistoric Building in Britain and Beyond

D. W. Harding

A comprehensive investigation of one of the most important topics in British prehistory

Uses archaeological evidence to investigate the social use of buildings and settlement patterns

Fully illustrated, with many original drawings, figures, and high-quality aerial photographs

The Iron Age Round-House

Later Prehistoric Building in Britain and Beyond

D. W. Harding

Description

In contrast to Continental Europe, where the Iron Age is abundantly represented by funerary remains as well as by hill-forts and major centers, the British Iron Age is mainly represented by its settlement sites, and especially by houses of circular ground-plan, in marked contrast to the Central and Northern European tradition of rectangular houses. In lowland Britain the evidence for timber round-houses comprises the footprint of post-holes or foundation trenches; in the Atlantic north and west, the remains of monumental stone-built houses survive as upstanding ruins, testimony to the building skills of Iron Age engineers and masons.

D. W. Harding's fully illustrated study explores not just the architectural aspects of round-houses, but more importantly
their role in the social, economic and ritual structure of their communities, and their significance as symbols of Iron Age society in the face of Romanization.